Pull tab type beverage cans offer consumers the convenience of opening a can of stored beverage by simply rotating and/or pulling upon a metal pull tab that is attached to the can's top surface or lid. By eliminating the inconvenience attendant to other kinds of cans that require use of a separate opener, easily opened pull tab type cans, as a consequence, have achieved widespread acceptance. Their use is almost universal.
Such beverage cans are most frequently constructed essentially entirely of aluminum. In other instances, however, pull tab type cans are fabricated with separate parts formed from two different metals, steel and aluminum, as example, in which the cylindrical body portion is formed of sheet steel and the top surface or lid, as variously termed, attached to the top of the cylindrical body, is constructed of aluminum. Such a dual metal can permits the consumer to use the now standard easily operated aluminum pull tab, affixed on the aluminum lid, while retaining the advantage of a less expensive sheet iron for the can's cylindrical body. The present invention addresses the construction of the dual metal type can and, particularly, provides a construction that uses less of the more expensive metal.
Discarded in the rubbish after use, such dual metal type beverage cans are collected and the metals are reclaimed, which is part of the modern trend of recycling. Because the cans are fabricated of significant portions of at least two different metals, which must be processed at the same time, the efficiency of the recycling process is adversly affected.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to increase the efficiency of metal reclamation of used dual metal type beverage cans and lower the cost of the metal reclamation process.
An additional object of the invention is to reduce the aluminum content of iron-aluminum dual metal type cans and to provide a less expensive structure for a dual metal can.